One example of a portable bag to receive therein a relatively small article is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a bag, in particular, a handbag 200 includes a bag body 210 having a storage space formed therein, and a bag flap 220 configured to open or close an opening of the body 210. The handbag 200 include a lock assembly 10 attached to the body and flap. When the bag flap 220 closes the opening of the bag body 210, the lock assembly 10 keeps a locking state of the bag.
The lock assembly 10 includes a body-side sub-assembly 20 secured to the bag body 210 and a flap-side sub-assembly 30 secured to the bag flap 220. In an operation, for a lock mode, the body-side sub-assembly 20 is coupled to the flap-side sub-assembly 30 and is rotated to a locking position. Otherwise, for an unlock mode, the body-side sub-assembly 20 is rotated to an unlocking position and is separated from the flap-side sub-assembly 30. This may be referred to a “turn-lock” mechanism. With this turn-lock mechanism, the body-side sub-assembly 20 may have two rotation members which are gripped by and rotated by a hand of the user such that the body-side sub-assembly 20 is locked into or unlocked from the flap-side sub-assembly 30. Especially, a rotation of only one rotation member may cause a rotation of the other rotation member. This may lead to improved convenience for the user.
As shown in FIG. 2, the body-side sub-assembly 20 may include a base member 21, a pair of rotation members 24 and a rotation-force transfer mechanism 25. The body-side sub-assembly 20 may be secured to the bag body 210 using a bag body fixture 22 and bag body fixing bolts 23.
The base member 21 may be secured to the bag body 210 using the bag body fixture 22 and bag body fixing bolts 23. Thus, the base member 21 may be closed, at an open rear side thereof, to form an inner space therein.
On a front side of the base member 21, a pair of shaft-insertion holes 21a may be formed to correspond to a pair of elongate holes 31a of the flap-side sub-assembly 120 respectively. Each of the shaft-insertion holes 21a may have a guide groove 21b formed vertically along the hole 21a at one side thereof.
The pair of rotation members 24 each may include a horizontal bar-shaped upper grip 24a and a vertical bar-shaped lower shaft 24b. The horizontal bar-shaped upper grip 24a and the vertical bar-shaped lower shaft 24b may be monolithic. A combination of the horizontal bar-shaped upper grip 24a and the vertical bar-shaped lower shaft 24b is rotated to lock or unlock the bag.
The upper grip 24a may pass away the corresponding elongate hole 31a, and, thereafter, may be kept to be orientated in an orthogonal direction to the elongate hole 31a to keep the locking state of the bag. Otherwise, the upper grip 24a may be orientated in a parallel direction to the corresponding elongate hole 31a and, thereafter, may pass away the corresponding elongate hole to be separated from the elongate hole 31a, to unlock the bag. The upper grip 24a may be disposed on the front side of the base member 21.
The lower shaft 24b may extend downwards vertically from the corresponding upper grip 24a. The lower shaft 24b is rotatably inserted into the shaft-insertion hole 21a via a rotation of the upper grip 24a. That is, the lower shaft 24b is rotatably engaged with the base member 21.
The lower shaft 24b may have a rotation guide protrusion 24c formed thereon, where the rotation guide protrusion 24c is configured to guide the rotation member 24 along the guide groove 21b during the vertical movement and rotation of the rotation member 24. To be specific, the rotation guide protrusion 24c is configured to guide the rotation member 24 to move from a top portion of the guide groove 21b to a middle level portion to a bottom portion of the guide groove 21b while the rotation member 24 rotates by 90°.
The rotation-force transfer mechanism 25 may include a pair of upper plates, a pair of lower plates, two pairs of balls, two pairs of springs, and a pair of linkers, all of which are disposed in the inner space of the base member 21. The rotation-force transfer mechanism 25 may be operatively coupled to the two lower shafts 24b. Thus, when one rotation member of the pair of rotation members 24 is rotated, the rotation-force transfer mechanism 25 may transfer the rotation force from one rotation member to the other rotation member. In this way, the pair of rotation members 24 may be rotated via a rotation of only a single rotation member 24.
The base member fixture 26 closes the open bottom of the base member 21, and the body-side sub-assembly 20 may be secured to the bag body 210 using the base member fixing bolts 27.
As shown in FIG. 3, the flap-side sub-assembly 30 may include a front fixture 31, a rear fixture 32, and fixing bolts 33. The flap-side sub-assembly 30 may be secured to the bag flap 220 using the front fixture 31, rear fixture 32, and fixing bolts 33.
The front fixture 31 may have the adjacent two elongate holes 31a formed therein, where the two elongate holes 31a pass through the bag flap 220. The front fixture 31 may be secured to a front side of the bag flap 220.
The rear fixture 32 may be secured to a rear side of the bag flap 220 to correspond to the front fixture 31.
The fixing bolt 33 may secure the front fixture 31 and rear fixture 32 to each other, and, thus, fasten the front fixture 31 and rear fixture 32 to the bag flap 220.
FIG. 4 shows a combination of the body-side sub-assembly 20 and flap-side sub-assembly 30 in the conventional lock assembly 10 for a bag. In this connection, as shown in FIG. 4, the bag flap 220 is disengaged from the bag body 210.
For the disengaged state, the upper grip 24a of the body-side sub-assembly 20 may be rotated to be oriented in a parallel direction with an extension direction of the corresponding elongate hole 31a. Thereafter, the upper grip 24a of the body-side sub-assembly 20 may be rotated such that the protrusion 24c reaches the middle level of the guide groove 21b and, thus, the upper grip 24a passes away the corresponding elongate hole 31a. In this way, the bag flap 220 may be detached, at its free end, from the bag body 210.
Based on a desired state, namely, a locked or unlocked state of the bag, any one of the two upper grips 24a may be rotated by 90° in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, vertically upwardly or downwardly, while the guide protrusion 24c moves along the guide groove 21b. In this connection, the rotation-force transfer mechanism 25 may transfer the rotation force from one rotation member to the other rotation member.
In this connection, the rotation-force transfer mechanism 25 includes the four springs and balls, the two upper plates, the two lower plates, and the two linkers. Thus, the rotation-force transfer mechanism 25 has a large number of the parts thereof. In particular, the balls and springs each has a small size, leading to a difficulty to assemble them. For the locking or unlocking operation of the bag, the rotation direction of the rotation member is limited to the specific direction since the guide groove 21b is formed only at one side of the shaft-insertion hole 21a and, thus, the rotation guide protrusion 24c of the rotation member moves only along the guide groove 21b. This may result in inconvenience for the user to lock or unlock the bag. Further, in the conventional lock assembly 10 for a bag, the rotation member 24 is not securely kept to be in the locked or unlocked state of the bag. Further, in the conventional lock assembly 10 for a bag, due to much deviation in movement of the linker, the rotation member 24 is not precisely aligned.
This “Background” section is provided for background information only. The statements in this “Background” section are not an admission that the subject matter disclosed in this “Background” section constitutes prior art to the present disclosure, and no part of this “Background” section may be used as an admission that any part of this application, including this “Background” section, constitutes prior art to the present disclosure.